Mass. unemployment rate hit 15% in April

The state’s unemployment rate rose to 15.1% in April after Massachusetts lost an estimated 623,000 jobs in a single month due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data published Friday. The rate is the highest on record in Massachusetts, according to an Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development database that dates back to 1976. The previous high during that time frame had been 10.3%, in January 1976. As expected, the coronavirus has shattered the state’s streak of 48 consecutive…